User menu

Social buttons

Languages

Benitez confident in officials despite first-leg frustrations

Rafael Benitez expects a better performance from the officials after first-leg controversy in the UEFA Europa League semi-final.

Published

13 May 2015

Rafael Benitez is confident Napoli will not be frustrated by the officials for a second time when they travel to Dnipro in the UEFA Europa League semi-final.

The Spaniard was furious after the first leg when Yevhen Seleznyov earned Dnipro a 1-1 draw with a late equaliser that Napoli were convinced was from an offside position.

Although still disappointed with the decision, Benitez was able to find some positives and believes the error will ensure they have no such problems on Thursday.

"We all saw the mistake from the official in Naples and that will help us," he said.

"An error of that magnitude in a semi-final can happen only once. I expect it to all be different [on Thursday] and everyone will be concentrated on having a normal game without controversy.

"The possibility of another refereeing error is minimal, as after the first leg everyone will be much more concentrated."

Despite his frustrations, Benitez was able to find plenty of positives after controlling the first leg, and he says they arrive in Ukraine with no fear as they look to reach a first European final since 1990.

He added: "We will not fear Dnipro. We have the utmost respect for them but we have confidence in us and the chances we had in the first leg prove we can do it.